Here's another great Brian Eno quote from Here Is What Is where he talks about what Daniel Lanois should put in his documentary about the creative process of making music*.

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One thing that would be really interesting for your film is for people to see how beautiful things grow out of shit, because nobody ever believes that.

You know… everybody thinks that Beethoven had his string quartets completely in his head, that somehow appeared there and formed in his head, and all he had to do was write them down, and they would kind of be manifest to the world.

But… I think what’s so interesting… and what would really be a lesson that everybody should learn is that… things come out of nothing.  Things evolve out of nothing.  You know, the tiniest seed in the right situation turns into the most beautiful forest, and then, the most promising seed in the wrong situation turns into nothing.

And… I think this would be important for people to understand because it gives people confidence in their own lives to know that that’s how things work.

If you walk around with the idea that there are some people who are so gifted, that they have these wonderful things in their head, but you’re not one of them, you’re just sort of… a “normal” person, that you could never do anything like that, then… you live a different kind of life, you know?

You could have another kind of life where you can say, “Well, I know that things come from nothing very much and start from unpromising beginnings, and… I’m an unpromising beginning and I could start something."

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I wish I'd heard this when I was a kid.  I wish we all heard this as kids.  

The sad truth is that you *do* need talent or aptitude or skillz ... you can't just be something because you wanna be something (which is why I'll never be a singer in a band) ... but, so many people who have baby shoots of talent, the tingly beginnings of  technique, or the tiny itch of a growing passion never take the first step toward their creative future because they believe they're nothing special.

And that's true.  They're not something special.  I'm not something special. You're not something special.  

But don't let that stop you.  Never let that stop you.

Now, go start something.

* I haven't seen it yet, but I *just* looked and Here Is What Is is on Netflix on demand.  Yay!!!

We are moved but so-totally-not unpacked.  I'm WAY behind on answering emails and comments and don't even have my computer set up, so if you emailed me before the move, I can't even reply to it (like you, Korallin!).  So, don't freak out if you're waiting to hear from me. :)

Thank goodness for 3-day weekends.  There will be much unpacking, lots of walking, just enough pina colada water ices, a ton of corn on the cob, and, if I'm lucky, some crafting!

I want to say a big, warm "Hi!' to Donna who recognized me (and my flower purse) from my blog and introduced herself to me today while I was running errands. :)   How cool is that?!

OK, this post is so totally not what you're thinking, because, I totally know what you're thinking.  Stop thinking that.  Really.  Just stop.  ;)

What I'm talking about is an amazing quote from Brian Eno that can be heard on the Daniel Lanois album Here Is What Is.  The quote is:


As batty as that quote sounds, I totally understand and relate to it.  Not only are there objects that inspire and strike a chord with you, but there are moments in your life that influence your direction much more than others.  Those objects and moments can be arbitrary and random.  Magical, even.

For me, one of those life-changing items is my flower purse.  I was able to use it a little in April when it was warm, but after that brief sunny spell, it's been raining almost every day, and now, pulling the flower purse back out, I feel ... I don't know ... different.  It's like the purse has an energy all it's own.

Just look at the grosgrain ribbon sunhat and adorable blanket stitched shoes it made me buy ...

Seriously, though ... I feel like the act of making this purse has altered the course of my life.  Maybe subtly and in ways that are unmeasurable at this time, but I can feel it's importance in the larger scheme of things.  This purse is a good thing.

I think the purse, the act of making the purse, is trying to reveal to me something about taking my time to do things right ... about choosing worthy goals  ... about how when you're following the right path, it doesn't seem like a heinous amount of labor, even if it is ... about how, if you listen, the world will tell you things you need to hear ... about the satisfaction I get from doing something well ... about the restorative power of constructing something with my own two hands ... about how good it feels to have matching accessories.

Ha!  I can't help but make jokes because I know how ridiculous it sounds to link life-changing epiphanies to a crocheted purse ...

... even if it's true ...

... and it is.

The making of crafty goodness has been replaced with the making of boxes.  We're moving and all my fun stuff is put away until our move next week.  

I've actually had moments where I could have been stitching or hooking or doing something creative ... but I left no projects out.  I guess that's good, though, because there's lots of work to do before the big day.

(sigh)

I just added the Starling Handbag to Ravelry (free sign up required).   So, if you're a Ravelry-er you can now add the Starling Handbag to your Queue, Favorites, or Projects!  There are already two Starling Handbags in Ravelry.

I'm so happy about all the Starling Handbag enthusiasm!  Since Thursday it's been downloaded over 250 times!  Yay!!!

UPDATE:  In the last nine hours the number of Starling Handbag Ravelry projects has climbed to 7 and 46 people have queued it.  Awesome!

Really!  You can get it on the free downloads page.

Remember, this is a beta, so there might be some rough edges that need smoothing.  Let me know if you see anything that needs fixing!

Yay!!!

My free downloads just broke 10000.  Well, they are at 10079.  I'd been watching for it, but from yesterday to today it totally jumped.

Here's the breakdown:



Since it's so close, it's hard to tell from the chart that Sasha is winning at 28%, then Supercute Sea Creatures at 26%, and Sigmund and the Meal Planner are tied at 23%.

When I charted the free downloads six months ago they were at 3500.

I wonder what the Starling Handbag is going to do to those numbers. ;)

I PICKED A NAME!

Oh, yeah, I'm pretty excited.  I don't know if I was driving *you* crazy with all the hemming and hawing, but I was driving *me* crazy.  I know my last post made it seem like I was really close to picking a name, but even after all your encouragement, I still wasn't liking any of those enough to commit to them.

Andrew suggested the name.  Not that he cares what my purse is named, but I kept pestering him to tell me what he thought of every new name that popped into my head.  Every time I did, he'd come back with something funny and ridiculous (Pickle Bucket?!), but this once something perfect slipped through.

So what name is the winner?  Well, I'll tell you ...

Starling Handbag

Ahhh.  Sweet, isn't it?  As soon as he suggested it, I looked starlings up on wikipedia and I found this interesting bit of information:


How perfect is that?  It's like my pattern will be the normal starling call and when you mix in your color choices, embellishments, and personal style you'll create your individual, personalized starling call.  I love it!

Plus, when I first made these handbags, I put birds and birdcages on them, so starling is doubly appropriate.  It's an A+ name any way you look at it.

So, now I just need to do a little fiddling here and there on the site, finish up the PDF, and get it posted.

Get your mouse clicking finger ready.  It won't be long now.

While you wait,  why not watch this adorable starling get cuddled while it naps.

When I was first learning foundation single crochet (fsc), I found that I made the chain part of the stitch very tightly.  This is because I wasn't pushing my hook through the loops all the way; I was just using the tip when I made the chain.  When the chain part is tight, your fsc row will to curve in on itself, like so:

Three or four people have emailed saying, "What am I doing wrong?!?" and every time, they are doing the same thing I did.

To keep you from making the same mistake, I added a note to the foundation single crochet tutorial.

When life gives you lemons ... make an owl wallet from a kit.

It makes things seem not-so-bad.  Trust me.